ISRAEL: Israel dealt a double blow to the Palestinian Islamic group Hamas yesterday, arresting a West Bank leader held responsible for a twin suicide bus bombing that killed 16, and killing a militant in a Gaza air strike.
Two other militants were killed by a tank shell as Israeli forces thrust into the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya in an offensive against militants to help pave the way for an Israeli withdrawal next year.
A 11-year-old Palestinian girl died a day after being hit by Israeli gunfire in her classroom at a UN school in the Khan Younis refugee camp in southern Gaza, medics said. An Israeli military source said soldiers had fired towards Palestinian gunmen believed to be near the school. The shooting, under investigation, followed anti-tank missile fire at a nearby Jewish settlement and an army post, he said.
Imad al-Kawasme, Hamas's commander in the West Bank city of Hebron, was arrested by Israeli troops on suspicion of orchestrating August 31st suicide attacks on two buses in the Israeli city of Beersheba, witnesses and Israel Army Radio said.
Kawasme is from a large Hebron clan that Israel says has been heavily involved in Islamist militant attacks. Several Kawasme men have been killed or arrested by Israeli forces over the course of a four-year-old Palestinian revolt. Neighbours said Israeli troops who seized Imad al-Kawasme also demolished his family house. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attacks in Beersheba.
Israeli security officials said the two suicide bombers made their way from Hebron over the southern West Bank's unfenced boundary with Israel and on to Beersheva.
In northern Gaza, an Israeli helicopter gunship fired a missile near a house during a bout of fighting with militants, killing a 22-year-old Hamas gunman, medics said. Three other militants were wounded. The air strike was part of Israel's biggest offensive in Gaza since the Palestinian uprising began. Israel launched the military campaign after two Israeli toddlers were killed in a rocket strike on the town of Sderot on September 29th.Ninety-six Palestinians have been killed in 15 days of fighting. At least 54 of them were militants and most of the rest were believed to be civilians, Palestinian medics say. Israel says most were gunmen.
The Israeli army has retracted an accusation that Palestinian militants in Gaza used a UN ambulance to transport a rocket for firing at Israel, officials said yesterday.
The UNRWA agency said it needed a full public apology to safeguard the security of UN staff operating in the area. Israel raised a stir at the UN last week with its accusation against the Gaza-based UN agency which hinged on a blurry video recorded by a military drone aircraft.
An army statement said an inquiry concluded that "the nature of the object loaded on the vehicle cannot be determined with certainty. Thus the determination that the object loaded was a Qassam rocket was too unequivocal and made in haste".
UNRWA said the Israeli statement was insufficient. "We are asking for an apology that is just as well publicised as the original accusation," spokesman Mr Paul McCann said. "